When Belief is Betrayed
by Come Lady Death
Summary: Alice Carter had always had trust issues with her father. Warning: Children of Earth spoilers. Written for LJ's whoverse LAS community. Prompt: Trust Issues.


Alice Carter had always had trust issues with her father. Even before she knew he was an immortal alien hunter, there was always a faint feel of unease in their house. Even her mother didn't trust the man, though she loved him till the day she died. Dad just didn't tell them the truth most of the time. Alice knew this for a fact.

When she found out who he really was- _what_ he really was- it all made sense. The half-truths, the sharp glances at odd times, the outright lies. But Alice trusted him even less. With all the things he did, how could she be sure that he was doing the right thing? The safe thing? How could she know that he wouldn't one day get her killed with his insane work? He couldn't die, true enough, but she could. Did he realize that? Or was she just another thing that had happened along the way?

Dad assured her that that wasn't the case. He loved her, he'd always love her, he promised. But then he would go away for days, weeks, months, and never say where. And Alice couldn't help but feel that she'd been lied to yet again. She couldn't trust her father with anything. That way led madness and, quite possibly, death. But she kept seeing him, kept after him to visit. Because he was her _dad_ and she still loved him.

Then came Joe, and Steven, and the divorce. Alice gained a life of her own and she gained a son. Her only child. Suddenly she felt her mother's pain: she loved her dad, but he just was not safe for her boy. So she made the call. She told him not to come around anymore. Stay away from my family, Dad. I know your world, your life. You're not safe. She didn't say _I don't trust you to keep us safe_. She didn't have to.

He still visited occasionally, of course. No power in the universe could keep him away from his family forever. But contact was limited. With a sick feeling low in her gut, Alice started to lie to her son just as her mother had lied to her. Steven couldn't know that 'Uncle Jack' was really his grandfather. So they played at being siblings, lying and hiding to keep Steven safe. More lies. More reasons not to trust him.

When the children started talking in voices that were not their own, Alice Carter was afraid. Her dad's alien world had come into her house, into her son, despite her precautions against them. She didn't want to call him, didn't want to have to depend on him to keep her son safe and alive. But in a crisis involving aliens, who better to trust than Captain Jack Harkness?

For once in her life, Alice Carter put aside her issues. She trusted her father. She loved him, Steven loved him, and he loved them back. He would make sure they were safe, no matter what the cost.

He did it. Alice was proud. She was so proud that her father had come through, that her fears had been unfounded. The world was going to hell, but her dad had saved their lives. For one brief moment, he was her hero.

Ten percent of the world's children were going to be taken away. There had to be a way to stop them. Her brilliant dad, the hero, he would figure out a way. Send a constructive wave back along the frequency and stop the aliens in their tracks. Yes.

Then that man. That awful man. He said use a child. Use a child to send the constructive wave, it was the only way to transmit. It would kill the child, true, but the needs of the many outweighed the needs of the few. There was only one child they could use.

Steven.

The instant the thought was put forth, Alice knew beyond a shadow of a doubt what would happen. She knew and the knowledge froze her soul. But she pushed the horrid thought aside and kept hoping. She held on to that one shining point in time when her father was the hero who was going to save the world. She could trust Dad to keep them safe. He'd promised. He loved them. He wouldn't. He couldn't.

She watched him nod his agreement as if in slow motion. With that nod he agreed to use his own grandson as a transmitter to strike back against the 456. He agreed to murder Steven Carter.

Alice wasn't sure what happened after that. All she could see was a blur and all she could think was _Steven Steven Steven my baby not my baby please God not my baby!_ They tore him from her, held her back from rescuing him, and took him away to his death.

She watched him shake and bleed to death through glass that would not give in to her pounding, no matter how hard she punched. She watched Steven stand unmoving on that spot that guaranteed his death. He didn't run. He didn't try to escape. Because Uncle Jack was there, and he trusted Uncle Jack.

Steven trusted Uncle Jack and he ended up in a pool of blood on the floor.

They let her into the room and Alice flew to her son's side. She clasped his body to herself and rocked her lifeless baby back and forth. She screamed and sobbed but all she could hear was the roaring of her own pulse in her ears. She couldn't even bring herself to look at her father, the murderer. She never saw the tears in his eyes.

Alice Carter had always had trust issues with her father. Those issues had kept her safe. She'd gotten past them for one instant and now her only child was dead in her arms. She'd been right from the start. No one should trust Jack Harkness.

No one who wanted to live.


End file.
